HDP protests policy to not use Kurdish in quake relief

HDP protests policy to not use Kurdish in quake relief
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"Kurdish has been used neither in search and rescue operations nor during aid efforts," HDP deputy Basaran has said in protest.

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) criticized the failure at using Kurdish language during government-led relief operations in the earthquake zone, where a large Kurdish population lives and have fallen victim to the disaster.

Speaking on the occasion of international mother language day, HDP deputy and member of human rights commission in the Turkish Grand National Assembly Ayse Acar Basaran said on Tuesday:

"The state officials have not changed their usual attitude even under such terrible circumstances. The quake-hit cities had large Kurdish populations, but Kurdish has been used neither in search and rescue operations nor during aid efforts. The people cannot even express their reactions in their own language. They are afraid to use their mother language in a region where millions of Kurds live, mainly because of the repression."

Basaran added that although the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) was among the countries who provided aid for quake victims Turkish officials did not express their gratitude in Kurdish while they did in all the other languages of the countries who sent aid.

"The foreign minister released messages in appreciation of aid deliveries in all languages, but not in Kurdish. This is a denial in concrete form," she said.